Yarn splicing



70 F. A. ARGUELLES 3,487,613

YARN SPLICING Filed June 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 FIGURE 2 FIGUREINVENTOR FERNANDO A. ARGUELLES Jan. 1970 F. A. ARGUELLES 3,487,618

YARN SPLICING Filed June 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5INVENTOI? FERNANDO A. ARGUELLES United States Patent 3,487,618 YARNSPLICING Fernando Alfredo Arguelles, Greenville, S.C., assignor to FiberIndustries, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 28, 1967, Ser.No. 649,692 Int. Cl. D01h; D02g US. Cl. 57--22 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Two yarns are spliced together by subjecting the yarns,located in a confined zone, to the flow of two directly opposed fluidstreams.

DEFINITIONS The expression yarn as used herein includes any yarn, strandor structure comprising either continuous filaments singlely or twistedtogether in the form of yarn, multifilaments, tows, and yarn spun fromstaple fibers, and the like, any of which are intended for textile uses.The yarns may comprise natural or man-made fibers, e.g. cellulose esterssuch as cellulose acetate and triacetate, nylon, polyester, and thelike, the latter which may be either in a drawn or undrawn state.

By the term splice is meant a splice, joint, union, connection or thelike, between two or more yarns, which of course includes two or moreseparate and distinct yarns which may or may not be of the samematerials, and a single yarn end doubled back on itself.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to a process for joining, splicing or uniting at least two yarnstogether and a novel apparatus for performing the process. Moreparticularly it relates to a process of and apparatus for splicingtogether textured multifilament yarns and to the splice formed thereby.

Description of the prior art In the textile industry it is commonpractice to splice or unite yarns together, such being necessitated torepair a break in a threadline or to join pieces of yarn coming from afresh bobbin onto the end of yarn coming from an exhausted bobbin inorder to maintain a continuous supply of yarn for a textile operation.Often it is necessary to rewind packages of yarn into a standard sizepackage, and in doing such, two or more short packages or yarn areunited or spliced together in order to make up the one standard sizepackage which goes out to a customer.

Yarns are often joined together or spliced by tying some form of knottherein, or by chemically bonding together or heat splicing together theends of the yarn. Patent exemplary of such uniting are United StatesPatent Nos. 1,675,400 (knotting); 1,986,974 (chemical bond); and3,160,547 (heat sealing). Such splices are, however, attendant withseveral disadvantages, among which may be loss in tensile strength, lessdesirable appearance, differential dyeing, and impairment of thecontinuity of the process. Spliced yarns often result in processstoppages because the splices may be detained by slub catchers, needlesin tufting operations, get stuck while being drawn off from a threadpackage, or the like. Moreover, when crimping a heavy denier yarn, forexample in a stuifer box, the yarn is guided into the crimping chamberby means of two rollers and splices may prevent the yarn from passingbetween the rollers in an unimpeded manner. Further, the tying of knotsin yarn and the chemical and thermal splicing thereof often results inyarn that is discolored through handling and moreover, the mostdesirable chemicals used in splicing often are found to be irritating tothe skin of the person preparing the splice.

It is known also to splice or unite yarns together by a process of airentangling the yarns. Such a process and apparatus therefor aredisclosed in United States Patent Nos. 3,273,330; 3,274,764; and3,306,020; and in British Patent 956,992. While the processes andapparatuses disclosed in the last-mentioned patents offer manyadvantages over the splicing or uniting of yarn by knotting, chemical orthermal splicing, there are certain disadvantages, however, associatedwith the practice of such inventions. On the other hand, the inventiveconcept herein possesses many advantages not heretofore believedobtainable, among which are good utilization of air for the productionof splices of relatively high breaking strength, and the provision ofsuch splices at relatively low air pressure. Moreover, and quiteadvantageously, a process for splicing pre-entangled yarns, as well asyarns of relatively high denier, is provided by the invention hereindescribed.

SUMMARY In accordance with the invention, hereinafter more fullydisclosed, there is provided a simple, economical process of andapparatus having few Working parts for splicing at least two yarnstogether whereby a splice or joint is produced of such a nature that thecross-sectional dimensions thereof does not interfere with theprocessability of the yarn and provides relatively good tensile strengthto prevent breakage at the splice.

The splicing of the yarns together is accomplished according to theinvention by positioning the yarns to be united in a generally parallelside-by-side relationship in a tubular-shaped confined zone andsubjecting the yarns to the flow of directly opposed turbulent streamsof a fluid medium whereby the individual fibers of each of the yarns areinitermingled with one another and the yarns are twisted togetherthereby resulting in a splice of relatively high breaking strength.

Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provide a simpleprocess for splicing or uniting yarns together whereby a splice or jointof relatively high breaking strength is produced.

It is a further object to provide a simple and economical apparatus forproducing a joint or splice between at least two yarns.

It is also an object to provide a splice in textured yarns which doesnot impair the texture of the yarn in the final product.

It is still a further object to provide a splice in at least two yarnends whereby the splice does not impair the continuity of continuousprocesses in which the yarn is subsequently utilized.

Other objects will become apparent hereinafter when reading the detaileddescription taken in connection with the drawings wherein;

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view, taken on line 11 in FIGURE 2, of asimple apparatus which may be utilized in the practice of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the apparatus in FIG- URE 1 taken at lines2-2;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of a preferred splicing apparatus according tothe invention in open position;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the right housing of the splicing apparatusshown in FIGURE 3, looking toward the shaft; and

FIGURE 5 is an illustration of a splice or joint formed according to theinvention between two ends of textured yam.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS Turning nowto the drawing there is disclosed in FIG- URE 1 thereof, an illustrationof a simple splicing device, represented generally by reference numeral10, for the practice of the invention. Splicing device has an elongatedtubular shaped confined zone 11 in which yarns to be spliced or joinedtogether are postioned. Located equidistant from each end of theconfined zone are orifices 14 and 15, located directly opposite oneanother, to which are connected in conventional fashion conduits orpassageways 16 and 17 for the introduction of a turbulent fluid medium,e.g. air or the like, into confined zone 11.

While yarns having some twist can be air spliced, e.g. about 2 turns perinch or less, quite unexpectedly it has been discovered that yarns whichhave been previously textured by crimping and then air entangled can bespliced together in accordance with the invention. This is believedsurprising because of the obvious difficulty in further entanglingalready entangled filaments, particularly in entangling with one anotheralready entangled filaments in different yarn ends. Yarns to be splicedtogether (not shown) are threaded by means of a wire hook or the likeinto confined zone 11. The yarns which are arranged in a generallyparallel sideby-side relation with one another may have both their endsfacing in the same direction, or the ends thereof may face oppositedirections, as desired. Preferably, however, a splice is made betweenyarn ends wherein the ends of the yarn face opposite directions, orstated in a different manner, where two continuous filament yarns arebeing spliced, the running lengths of the yarns face in oppositedirection. Trimming the tails or loose ends of such a splice results ina more desirable connection which does not have objectionable stubs orprotuberances which stick out at any angle about 90 degrees with respectto the running length of the spliced yarns. Moreover, such splice can bedesirably trimmed without trimming or cutting the splice per se thusresulting in a splice of higher breaking strength as well as one of moredesirable appearance and processability.

The ends of the yarns sticking out from confined zone 11 are heldloosely in both hands and are free to move within the zone while airunder pressure is allowed to enter orifices 14, simultaneously. The air,which is believed to have the fiow path indicated by the arrows inFIGURE 2, causes the yarns to rotate and to twist together between thehands or other clamping means while simultaneously causing individualfilaments in each of the yarns to intermingle and entangle with oneanother. After a few seconds the air fiow is turned off and the yarnsare removed from the confined zone. The twisting and intermingling ofthe filaments results in snarls and the like which, along with thefriction between the entangled fibers produces a splice between the yarnends that has relatively good breaking strength, which in some instancesis nearly that of the yarns itself.

A more preferred embodiment of a splicing apparatus which is used in thepractice of the invention is shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawing. Splicingapparatus 20 is shown in an open position and comprises two housings 21and 22 which may be abutted together to form a tubular shaped confinedzone such as is shown in FIGURE 2 of the drawing, and hereinafter morefully described.

In each of the housings 21 and 22 there is positioned a member 24, 25forming half of the confined zone. When the members are brought togetherthey form a tubular confined zone for the splicing of yarns asheretofore described. The confined zone so formed is open on the endsand allows for free movement of yarn to be spliced therein. In each ofthe members 24, 25 there is located equidistant from the ends thereof anorifice 27, 28, respectively. Passageway in housing 21 is connested withan air compressor (n t shown) by means of suitable piping andconnections and permits air to fiow as indicated by the arrows intoplenum 31 and orifice 27. When the housings are abutted together therebycompleting formation of the tubular confined zone air fiows via plenum31 to orifice 28, and into the tubularshaped confined zone. Thus yarnwithin the confined zone is subjected to the flow of two directlyopposed turbulent streams of air.

Housings 21 and 22 are the modified jaws of a conventional air vice.Housing 21 is. stationary and housing 22 is adapted for movement awayfrom or in engagement with housing 21 by means of shaft or rod 32 whichis connected with an air piston (not shown) of conventional design.While the abutting faces of the housings and members 24, 25 are bothdesirably machined or the like to provide smooth mating surfaces, it iscritical that at least the mating surfaces of members 24, 25 beappropriately machined to prevent the egress of air from the confinedzone through the mating surfaces. Such is deemed necessary to allow forthe proper fiow of air in the confined zone which in turn results in thedesired splice shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawing. Moreover, in additionto it being critical that the mating surfaces be smooth, it is also ofcritical significance that such surfaces meet so as to form atubular-shaped confined zone of uniform dimensions.

Mating surfaces, which do not properly come together at each point alongthe zone so as to substantially form a circle result in protuberances inthe confined zone thus effecting air flow and causing filaments tohang-up thereby inhibiting rotation of the yarns. Further to preventhang-up of filaments the inside surfaces of the halves of the confinedzone also should desirably be smooth.

As above-mentioned, and the applicant does not wish to be limited by anytheory of his invention, the air fiows upon being introduced into theconfined zone, particularly with the yarns located therein, are believedto follow the flow paths indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 2 of thedrawing. Moreover, it is theorized that the air being discharged towardthe ends of the confined zone, because of the tubular shape, takes aspiral path, and that such spiral is what influences rotation of theyarns, which results in their being twisted together.

To insure sealing of the mating surfaces, such may be provided withsealing surfaces, e.g. a lamina of rubber or other suitable resilientair-sealing material, if such is desired.

Splicing is accomplished by overlapping the ends of two yarn ends about8 to 16 times the length of the confined zone (the ends of the yarn canbe in opposite directions or in the same direction as desired). Theoverlapped ends, held in hand, are then positioned in the open splicingdevice so that when housings 21 and 22 are closed thereby forming thetubular confined zone the two overlapped ends of yarn are positionedsolely within the confined zone. It is deemed understood of course thatthe overlapped yarns can be held in place by appropriate clamping means.It is important, however, in the practice of the invention that none ofthe filaments in either of the yarn ends are caught during the closingof the housings and that the filaments or yarn ends be freely movable ashereinafter more fully described.

After closing housings 21 and 22 thereby forming the confined zone forthe yarn ends, valve 33 is opened thereby allowing air under pressure toflow into the splicing apparatus in the directions indicated by thearrows. Air passes into housing 21 through passage 30 and is introducedinto the confined zone by way of orifices 27 and 28. Upon closing ofhousings 21 and 22 and turning on air valve 33 air fiows up throughpassageway 30 and divides, some of which fiows into the confined zone byway of orifice 27 and the rest of which fiows through plenum 30 aroundthe confined zone and into orifice 2'8 which is located directly o ositeorifice 27.

The yarn ends, while positioned in the confined zone asbefore-mentioned, are held loosely by means of two hands, clamps or thelike. Upon subjecting the overlapped yarn ends to the flow of air, theindividual filaments in the yarns are agitated and randomly intermingledand the yarns are twisted together thereby producing a union or splicebetween the two yarn ends. It is desirable that the yarns be held in theconfined zone under little tension. Even more preferably they are heldunder zero tension thus allowing maximum rotation of the yarns andentangling of the individual filaments.

The size of the confined zone and the fluid passages are dependent to'some extent on the yarn that is to be spliced, air pressure, amount ofair required for producing a desirable splice, and the like. Such caneasily be optimized, however, by means of routine experimentation.Merely by way of example a confined zone onehalf inch in length, that isapproximately one-eighth inch in diameter, and having fluid passage waysof about onesixteenth inch in diameter for the introduction of opposedflows of 100 p.s.i.g. air is suitable for producing a splice in atextured yarn having a total denier of 2460/ 136 or 3690/ 204.

While the invention is more particularly described hereinafter withrespect to air, any type of fiuid medium may be employed in the practiceof the invention, liquid or gas, e.g. water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen,and saturated or unsaturated steam. For reasons of economy and easinessof handling, the use of air is, however, preferred. The temperature andpressure of the fluid medium used can also be varied, as well as thetype of fluid being used. The degree of intermingling and therefore thestrength of the splice varies somewhat with pressure and temperature, aswell as with the fluid used. The mere selection of a particular fluidentangling medium, and the determination of its optimum pressure,temperature, and the like, for the splicing of any particular yarnaccording to the invention herein disclosed is deemed, however, withinthe scope of the routineer. The preferred fluid is air at averageconditions of about 100 psig pressure and room temperature. It shouldsuitably be dry, i.e., free of moisture and free from oil, dirt and thelike.

The invention will now be more particularly described by reference tothe following examples.

Example I Three running ends of multifilament nylon 66 yarn are joinedtogether in conventional manner to produce a yarn bundle having a totaldenier of 3690/204. The yarn bundle is then stuffer box crimped afterwhich the filaments thereof are air entangled in conventional fashion toproduce a bulky yarn. Two yarn ends of such yarn are overlapped about 6inches with the ends thereof facing in the opposite direction. Theoverlapped yarn ends are then spliced by means of a conventionalelectrically operated heat splicer. The breaking loads on 44 of suchsplices is given in Table I below.

Example II I Yarn such as is spliced in Example I is spliced using anair splicer having two opposedair flows. The confined zone of the airsplicer is cubic in shape being 0.75 inch long, 0.125 inch deep, and0.125 inch wide.'

The yarn ends being overlapped 6 inches and-being held by hand at theoverlapped ends are subjected to a flow of compressed air at roomtemperature having a pressure of 150 p.s.i.g. for a period of 5 seconds.

The breaking loads on 20 such splices are given below.

Example III Yarn as in Example I is spliced by threading two yarn endsinto an open-ended confined zone similar to that shown in FIGURE 1 ofthe drawing.

The confined zone has an internal diameter of 0.125 inch and is 0.500inch long. It has. an external diameter of 0.500 inch and a length of0.750 inch and flares or diverges outwardly at each end at a 45 degreeangle as is shown in the drawing. Two orifices for the introduction ofair, having a diameter of 0.062 inch, are located equidistant from theends of the confined zone and are directly opposite one another.

The yarn ends being overlapped a distance of 6 inches and being heldloosely by hand at the overlapped ends are subjected to the opposedturbulent flows of room temperature air having a pressure of p.s.i.g.for a period of 5 seconds.

Upon being subjected to the opposed air flows the overlapped ends ofyarn rotate and twist together between the loosely held ends; however,upon stopping the flow of air the yarn ends are unexpectedly discoveredto be spliced or connected together along a distance less than thelength of the confined zone. Surprisingly, the splice or connection hasan intermediate portion which, as can be seen in FIGURE 5 of thedrawing, is bulky and obviously less entangled than the ends thereof. Ateach end of the splice, however, there is a tight spot, i.e. an area ofgreater entangled than at the intermediate portion. While I do not wishto be held to any theory of my invention the tightly entangled ends ofthe splice appear to occur at a point along the confined zone which isabout half-way from the orifices to the ends of the confined zone. It istheorized that such splicing occurs because the opposed air flows resultin a path of flow similar to that shown in FIGURE 2 thereby creating avortex. The confined zone being tubular shaped is believed to cause theair to spiral toward each end of the confined zone in an eifort toescape from the zone which in turn causes the yarns to rotate and twisttogether thus becoming more highly entangled at the ends of the splice.By the time the air has passed a point beyond about half-way from theorifice to the ends of the confined zone, the air lacks sufiicient forceto cause any appreciable further entangling.

The breaking load for 20 splices made according to the last-describedprocedure is given below.

As can be seen from the above data there is a significant increase inthe average breaking load of the splice made using the air splicer inExample III according to the invention over using the air splicer inExample II or the heat splicer in Example I.

The breaking load, which is above-expressed in grams, is determined by aconventional Instron Universal Tester according to usual techniques. Agage length of 25 cm. and a cro-sshead speed of 30 cm./min. is used. Amin. strain rate and 12% extension/cm. of chart is used for all testing.

Example IV Yarn as in Example I is spliced using the preferred deviceaccording to the invention and which is shown more clearly in FIGURE 3.A tubular confined zone such as is described in Example III is split inhalf according to conventional means (or if desired the semi-cylindricalhalves can be machined according to usual techniques from a suitablepiece of metal, such as, e.g. stainless steel) to provide smooth matingsurfaces within 0.001 inch or less. Such surfaces are required toprovide an adequate seal when they are abutted together to inhibit the'egress of air through the mating surfaces.

The halves of the confined zone are secured in two brass housings(FIGURE 3) by well-known silver soldering techniques. The housings arepart, i.e. the jaws, of a conventional air vise (Heinrich Air Vice No.33, Heinrich Tools Inc., Racine, Wis.) one of which is stationary and heother movable. The stationary housing contains an air )assage 0.188 inchin diameter which is connected with L plenum and orifice in the half ofthe confined zone ocated therein. The other end of the air passage is,by means of appropriate connections, connected with an air :ompressorwhich provides clean air having a pressure of 100 p.s.i.g. to the airpassage. The plenum which is 0.250 nch wide x 0.0545 inch deep (FIGURE4) and is prolided between the housings and the halves of the confinedtone allows for the flows of air to the other housing when :he housingsare moved together to form the tubular ;haped confined zone.

The splicing process is performed as follows: two yarn ends areoverlapped 6 inches; the ends held by hand, are .ocated within the opensplicer; the splicer is closed (see FIGURE 2) and the yarn ends aresubjected to the turbulent opposed air flows at a pressure of 100p.s.i.g. for a period of 5 seconds. The yarn ends rotate asabove-mentioned in Example III. The splicer is opened and the splicedyarn is removed. A splice is produced such as is shown in FIGURE 5.

The breaking load on 11 of such splices is given below in Table II.

2460/136 nylon 66 yarn.

The breaking load for a number of such splices is given below in TableII.

TABLE II.-AIR SPLICE BREAKING LOAD DATA Full Load X equals Full Load Xequals 11, 000 gms. 7,200 gms.

Gms. Bk. Percent Full Gms. Bk. Percent Full Load Load Load Load ExampleVI Undrawn polypropylene yarn (3700/75) was spliced according to theprocesses described in Examples II and IV.

The splice produced by the Example II process and apparatus broke atbetween 20% and 50% of the normal yarn tensile strength; however, thesplice produced by the preferred apparatus herein, and which isdescribed in Example IV, required over 90% of the normal yarn tensilestrength to break.

Although the invention is described above with greater particularitywith respect to a modified air vise, it is deemed understood by thoseskilled in the art that the particular air splicing apparatus may takemany forms and still be within the scope of the inventive concept. Byway of example, the housings for the confined zone members may beatfixed to a die-set for movement toward or away from one another. Thehousings or confined zone members may be hinged on one side if desired,or both housings can be adapted for movement toward or away from oneanother. Of critical concern in any apparatus, however, is that theconfined zone be circular, andthat provisions be made therein for atleast two flows of a turbulent fluid medium which are directly opposedone another. More than two splices can be provided, if desired, therebyincreasing the strength of the union between two or more yarns. Such canbe provided by either building up splicing units as herein disclosed ina serial fashion or by providing additional pairs of opposed orifices inthe confined zone. It may even be desirable in the case of splicingrelatively heavy denier yarns or tows to split the filament bundle intotwo or more subdivisions and thereafter splicing the smaller subdividedbundles of filaments in a staggered manner, if desired, in a number ofsplicing units arranged in a parallel fashion.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for splicing at least two yarns together comprising incombination:

(a) two housing members adapted for movement toward and away from oneanother,

(b) a first member forming half of a confined zone positioned in one ofthe housing members,

(c) a second member forming the other half of a confined zone positionedin the other housing member,

(d) means for supplying fluid to at least one of the housing members,

(e) means for moving the housing members toward and away from oneanother whereby the housing members when moved toward one another causesaid first and second members to abut with one another and form atubular-shaped confined zone open at the ends thereof for the egress offluid from said zone but being sealed along the abutting surfaces toprevent the egress of fluid,

(f) a fluid passage means located in at least one of the housing membersand being interconnected with said fluid supply means and with anorifice located in one of the said members of the confined Zone, and

(g) a second fluid passage means being located in the other housingmember and being interconnected with an orifice located in the othermember of the confined zone positioned therein whereby fluid is suppliedto the confined zone in two opposed flows.

2. A process for splicing two or more yarns together which comprises;

(a) individually crimping the yarns to be spliced and intermingling saidyarns by air jet entangling,

(b) positioning said yarns in a confined zone in a sideby-siderelationship to one another,

(c) subjecting said positioned yarns to the flow of two directly opposedfluid streams, and

(d) rotating said yarns axially along their lengths by means of saidopposed fluid flow for a period of time suificient to cause the fibersof the yarn to become intermingled with one another, thereby resultingin a splice of relatively high breaking strength.

3. Process according to claim 2 wherein the fluid streams are air.

4. Process according to claim 2 wherein the yarns are positioned in theconfined zone with overlapping of the ends of the yarns.

5. A process for splicing two or more yarns together, which comprises;

(a) crimping the yarns to be spliced,

(b) positioning said yarns in a confined zone in a sideby-siderelationship to one another,

(c) subjecting said positioned yarns to the flow of two directly opposedair streams thereby creating a turbulent zone around said yarns, and

(d) rotating said yarns axially along their lengths in said air streamfor a period of time sufficient to cause the yarns to becomeintermingled and entangled with one another, thereby resulting in asplice of relatively high breaking strength.

6. A process for splicing two or more yarns together comprisingpositioning two or more continuous filament yarns in a combined zone ina side-by-side relationship to one another, subjecting said positionedyarns to the flow of two directly opposed air streams, thereby creatinga turbulent zone about said yarns and rotating said 9 10 yarns axiallyalong their length in said air stream for a 3,377,671 i 4/1968 Yamamoto57-34 XR period of time suflicient to cause the yarns to become in-3,380,135 4/ 1968 Wood et al. 57-22 XR termingled and entangled with oneanother, thereby re- 3,286,321 11/1966 Fletcher et al. 28-72 sulting ina splice of relatively high breaking strength. 3,339,362 9/1967 Dodsonet a1. 57-159 5 3,367,813 2/1968 Holfeld e 57-159 XR References CIted3,407,583 10/1968 Irwin er al. 57-159 XR UNITED STATES PATENTS DONALD E.WATKINS, Primary Examiner 3,273,330 9/1966 Gonsalves 57-159 3,306,0202/1967 Rosenstein 57-22 U.S. c1. X.R. 3,339,362 9/1967 Dodson 6:61 s7 22XR 10 57 15

